Page 53 of Scarlett and the Fake Boyfriend (Scarlett #2)

Saturday

A mic screeched from somewhere and I swear every single person in the ballroom was staring at Sophie and me. Including Zach the Stallion from across the room.

I ducked behind Sophie.

Luckily another song started playing and people picked up dancing.

Sophie laughed and turned around. “Are you hiding behind me right now?”

“I just yelled about Zach’s penis and Zach heard.”

“And so did everyone else.” She grabbed my hands and started dancing again. “How big are we talking?” She started to spread my hands apart. “Wow, bigger?” She kept moving my hands apart.

I pulled my hands out of hers. “I was just letting you know. I thought you might be excited.”

“I am excited. I freaking knew it. Zach the Shy Spy my ass. Although...he may still be a shy spy. What kind of cologne was he wearing?”

“He doesn’t wear cologne,” I said. “But whatever soap he uses smells citrusy.”

“Then only time will tell. When do you think the kiss thief will make his move?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. Have you seen Jacob at all? ”

“Oh, you think he might be in a closet setting up or something romantic?”

“I don’t know. But I haven’t seen him or Axel since we arrived.”

Someone cleared their throat behind me.

I turned around to see Axel standing there.

“Your dad just requested that I come dance with you. Isn’t that shocking?” He put his hand out for me.

Axel was usually preoccupied at school dances with whoever his current fling was. Normally I’d be thrilled that he’d saved a dance for me. But not like this. He was only standing here because my dad had asked him to. And there was nothing more pathetic than that.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “You don’t have to dance with me just because my dad asked you to.”

“Scarlett,” Axel said. He kept his hand out for me.

“Besides, I’m busy dancing with Soph.” I shimmied and grabbed Sophie’s hip.

She bent over and I pretended to slap her ass.

“That’s enough,” Axel said and grabbed my hand. “Your dad is going to shut the dance down if you keep this up.”

“Keep what up?”

“Dancing like that . With everyone .”

I laughed. “I’m not dancing like this with everyone.”

“You were grinding against Zach like you weren’t in the middle of a crowded room.”

I rolled my eyes.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me against his chest. “Seriously, what are you doing?”

“I’m in the middle of an operation,” I said.

“What operation? ”

“Operation None of Your Business.” I booped him on his nose.

Axel lowered his eyebrows. “You need to drink the rest of that bottle of water.”

“Yes, sir.” I unscrewed the cap and took a sip. “Want some?” I held it out to him.

He scrunched up his nose. “Is that straight vodka?” He grabbed it from me. “We need to find you some water.”

“You sound like my dad. I don’t need water. What I need is to dance with Luis.”

“No,” he said firmly. “You don’t.”

“Actually I do.” I tried to pull my wrist out of Axel’s grip, but his fingers dug into my skin.

“We had a deal, Scarlett. And you’ve broken it a million times over.”

“There is no deal, Axel. I never agreed to it.”

He shook his head. “You did agree to it. And if you dance with Luis, I’m going to make out with another cheerleader.”

“Great. You do that.”

He lowered his eyebrows as he stared at me. “So which one will it be this time? Your choice.”

“Hm. How about Olivia?”

“Olivia isn’t a cheerleader. And she’s off-limits.”

I stared at him. “Why is she off-limits?”

“Because Jacob has a crush on her.”

It was like he’d stabbed me in the heart. But for the first time, my chest didn’t ache because of what Axel had done. It hurt because of what Jacob had. “Kiss whatever blonde bimbo you want, Axel. I don’t care.” I pushed him off of me and turned to walk away.

But he wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Hey. I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear. “I wasn’t trying to upset you.”

He wasn’t trying to upset me when he told me that my freaking boyfriend had a crush on someone else?

Really? But I didn’t push him away again.

Because his arms were wrapped around me.

Like they were the other morning when I’d woken up.

And even though my heart hurt, I felt a little better when he held me like this.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. He sighed and rested his chin on the top of my head. And for a few moments we just stood there in the middle of the dance floor, him hugging me from behind.

He dropped his lips to my ear again. “Now, will you please dance with me?” he asked. “I’ve been looking forward to it all night.”

Had he? I pressed my lips together. Part of me wanted to replicate Sophie’s dance moves again.

Reach up behind Axel’s neck as I swayed my hips.

But I couldn’t just mimic Sophie’s moves when I was dancing with Axel.

Because Axel wasn’t Zach. And everything always felt.

..different with Axel. Bigger. More important somehow.

So instead of pressing my ass against him, I turned around.

It was a fast paced song, but I didn’t care. I placed my hands on his shoulders and he placed his hands on my waist. I stared into his eyes as we moved slowly to the music.

Axel cleared his throat. “I only mentioned the Olivia thing because of what happened earlier. And I meant what I said earlier too.”

“That you have your eyes on another cheerleader? ”

He smiled. One of his real ones. The one that was reserved just for me. “No, before that. Back at your place. I meant what I said about beating the shit out of Jacob if he’s cheating on you.”

I sighed. “Can you please not interfere in my relationship? This is between me and Jacob.”

“Aren’t I already interfering?”

I looked up at him.

“By sleeping with you every night,” he said.

“Seriously, stop saying it that way.”

He laughed. “But I am.”

“You wish.”

He didn’t respond. He was looking at something over my shoulder.

“Sophie said you wanted a dance?” someone said behind me.

I turned to see Luis standing there.

“We’re busy, Luis,” Axel said, pulling me back in close.

“But Sophie said...”

Axel’s fingers tightened on my hips. “I’m dancing with her right now,” Axel said firmly.

“Right...” Luis said. “Mind if I cut in?”

Axel sighed like Luis was exhausting him. “Yes, I mind. Like I said...I’m dancing with her right now, man.”

“I’ll come back when the song changes then,” Luis said.

“Asshole,” Axel muttered under his breath as Luis retreated.

I laughed.

“Seriously...why are you dancing with half my team?”

“I told you. I’m in the middle of an operation.”

He sighed. “Right. Operation None of Your Business.”

“Mhm.”

“Have you given my proposal any more thought?”

“I haven’t seen you on one knee...”

He smiled. “I’m talking about our vow of singledom for the rest of the year.”

Why? Why on earth would he want that? It didn’t make any sense. “Axel, you might find being single a fun novelty. But I don’t. I’ve been single my whole life...”

“Your whole life? Now that’s definitely not true. I remember you being my girlfriend when we were kids.”

Before you threw my heart into oncoming traffic. Yeah . I remembered too. “Well...since then. Being single isn’t fun. Not when all your friends are always in relationships. I’m the seventh wheel half the time.”

“A little secret for you,” he said.

I looked up at him.

“You are never the seventh wheel. Because no matter who I was seeing...you were always more important.”

I wanted to cry. Because it was so easy to hear his words and twist them into more. I was always more important to him. Because...he loved me back? Or because I was one of his best friends? I so badly wanted it to be the first thing. But I kind of knew he meant the latter.

“You know what else I remember from when we were kids?” he asked.

I wanted to ask him a million questions about his last statement first. But.

..did I really need to? Sure, Axel was always dating someone.

But whenever we needed each other...we always showed up for one another.

I mean, he’d been sleeping in my bed for over a week because I’d watched a scary movie.

We were best friends. And we always would be.

I cleared my throat. “What do you remember?”

“I remember when we were little and you used to make me play Pretty Pretty Princess with you.”

I laughed. “I definitely remember that.” He’d been a trooper. And I was surprised he had a picture of us playing in his room after all these years.

“So you remember what I told you whenever you didn’t win?” he asked.

I swallowed hard. I remembered. But I didn’t say a word. Because I wanted to hear him say it. It felt like I’d been waiting a lifetime for him to say it again.

Axel reached up and took off his crown. “I always told you that no matter what, you were still the prettiest princess I ever saw.” He placed his crown on top of my head.

Now I really wanted to cry. This wasn’t about being one of his best friends. This felt like more.

“It definitely looks better on you,” he said.

“Axel...” my voice trailed off. I’d been silently begging for him to notice me again for years.

Wishing for it every birthday when I blew out my candles.

And wishing on every single shooting star in the sky that I’d one day be his again.

And with all the lit up stars above us on the ceiling.

..maybe this was the moment. Maybe all my wishes were about to come true.

He knew I still liked him. I’d told him I always thought my first kiss would be with him. He needed to tell me his feelings changed. Not the other way around. I took a deep breath. “Why do you want us to both be single? Is it so that we both won’t be single for long?” Because we’ll be together?

“What would be the point of a vow of singledom if it didn’t last a long time? Like I said...I want it to last the rest of the year.”